ORIENTATION SPECIFICITY - HOW GENERAL IS IT

The extent to which individuals show evidence of an orientation-specif ic map image was assessed in three experiments. Experiment 1 used a si mple path map as the stimulus. Experiment 2 used a more complex map of a real campus environment and allowed repeated exposure over a 4-week period. Experiment 3 used a scale model of the campus and repeated ex posures. In all three experiments evidence was found for a subgroup th at exhibited no evidence of an orientation-specific map image. Group a verages masked the existence of this subgroup, and instead tended to b e more reflective of a smaller subgroup showing strong evidence of ori entation specificity. The results caution against overgeneralizing gro up averages in this area of spatial cognition research.